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Obama met with the nation’s governors to hear tales of economic pain – and won points by telling GOP-ers in the room that he welcomed disagreements.
AP Photo

No one could remember a meeting quite like this.

President-elect Barack Obama met with the nation’s governors Tuesday to hear their tales of economic pain – and won some points by telling Republicans in the room that he welcomed disagreements, “so feel free,” one participant recalled.

“He said, 'I don't know you as well, let me get to know you, give me a chance, you might be surprised how helpful I can be,’ ” said New York Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat who recounted Obama’s words to the Republicans.

“He said, ‘I’m a good listener, and I’m a better listener when people disagree with me,’” added West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the outgoing head of the Democratic Governor’s Association.

The gesture went over well with the GOP executives, many of whom were getting their first chance to take the measure of the new president up-close, including two who may challenge him for the White House in four years.

Obama used the hour-plus session today to discuss the upcoming stimulus package, and he pledged to partner with the chief executives as they grapple with budget deficits wrought by the economic downturn.

The meeting was not without political overtones. Some GOP officials grumbled privately that Obama met first with the Democratic governors Monday night. Two Republican governors also told Obama he risks exploding the national debt with a massive stimulus package.

But for the most part, the governors, meeting at historic Congress Hall in Philadelphia for the annual meeting of the National Governor’s Association, were taken with Obama’s openness, policy depth and just that he showed up to engage in a real back and forth, a move none could recall on the part of a newly elected president.

"For me, it was the Barack Obama I knew, but for a lot of the other people in the room, it was a president being unprecedented," Paterson said.

“It was a very productive meeting,” recounted Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. “Kind of like the days they used to meet in this grand old building,” he said, alluding to the home of Congress when Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital at the end of the 18th Century. “It was very much a working session, with brainstorming – which is so rare in the upper echelons of politics these day which are so staged and scripted.”

Huntsman said Obama introduced his senior staff in the room – including top aides Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett — “one-by-one” and assured the governors that they’d have a direct line to each.

And after Huntsman took the floor to recommend that the regional governor’s associations be used to collect real-time data on the holdups in infrastructure projects and communicate that to the administration, he said Obama brought it back up to him as he walked out.

“One of his greatest attributes is that he’s a keen listener,” said Huntsman.

“The tone of the meeting was constructive and positive,” said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, noting that he was especially heartened by Obama’s message at the end of the session.

For Democratic governors, it was a welcome relief after years of meeting with a Republican president they found to be unfamiliar with details.

“The contrast with our meeting with the sitting president was fairly stark,” said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, recalling a “much more controlled” environment with President George W. Bush.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the incoming head of the DGA, was more blunt: “Just to have an administration, a president, a vice president, who listened, engaged, and came to meeting prepared — it’s a brand-new idea.”

The good vibrations aside, there were some difficult facts staring both the governors and the incoming president in the face.

But but but Obama is a Muslim. He's also a communist (especially when he's not being a socialist). Obama promised all this change but he continues to wear a suit. How can we believe in his promise of change when he still has not changed what he wears? Oh and did I mention that Obama is also inexperienced and a Marxist when he is not being a communist or a socialist? Am I missing anything else? The sky is falling... Run for your lives!

Mark Sanford is a true fiscal hawk...He "walks the talk"...The reality is that the stimulus should not be a "check" cut to individuals or to state and/or local govt. The problem here is the recession and credit crisis...It's hard to argue AGAINST infastructure requirements that have been backlogged...I commend Sanford's position but he has schools that are falling apart in SC...Would this governor go on record as being opposed to that sort of "infastructure aid"?..Would he deny the need for it?...The GOP needs to understand that "ideological" positions won't interest 44 and won't pass in congress....Obama's looking for solutions for our crisis...For those who offer ideas and creatives solutions, he'll try to apply them to the Federal Gov't and give the credit to the Governor who share "what works"...The smart GOP candidates will look to work THIS route to gain national attention.

i was a bit dismayed that palin was saying obama's decision to meet with govs was a vindication that she was better qualified to run the country because she's a governor. phuck! im so freakin' frustrated. does she even have any braincells? i would think she'd want to keep a low profile, given the fact that she accused him of being a socialist and a terrorist sympathizer, aroused crowds that threatened to 'kill him'. it's like she's clueless. does she understand the word 'bipartisan' or 'postpartisan'? deference and teamwork? doesn't she wanna work with the incoming administration? are social conservatives the only things- things indeed- that she is able to process? whoa.

Well, well, the community organizer gets to meet people who have actually run something.

Right, and this article is about how all but two of those "people who have actually run something" say that "the community organizer" is impressive, to the extent that they have never seen anyone AS impressive.

Ed Garland, what exactly is wrong with being a community organizer? Dr. King and Ghandi were community organizers. I don't get this fascination, with Obama's first job. The conservatives really have nothing especially after they elected the chimp as president. Obama could have cashed a huge payday coming out of Harvard law school and being the editor of the law review. A similarly qualified law graduate even in today's economy would almost automatically get a 150-175k starting salary job with one of the elite corporate law firms. Instead he chose to go and work in public interest and to help solve problems for his community at a fraction of the pay. That horrible evil man trading his community for a big corporate pay day, how unchristian of him. Oh Mr. Garland in case you haven't checked, Obama will be running the country and he ran a billion dollar campaign. The Conservatives really don't have any fact based arguments, all they have is nasty attacks. And the nature of their attacks just like the crazed "arab" lady at the rally really reveals what is disgusting about them and not the object of their attacks. Oh my god Obama was a community organizer, why that is just slightly better than a pimp or child pornographer. By the way Obama was also editor of Harvard Law Review, an attorney, a law professor, a state legislator, and US Senator. Not to mention being elected US president, this ridiculous he never accomplished anything line of attack sounds even more ridiculous in light of Bush and Palin. And quite frankly your biting attacks on community organizers really reveals more negatives about your personality than it does about Obama. What kind of sick freak sees something wrong with working to help your community?

Actually, it still horrifies me to see Sarah Palin anywhere, except back on an iceberg... And, perhaps, just maybe, being a community organizer has helped our new president be the type of leader who is actually capable of looking at the issues, talking to people who have different perspectives on them, and being able to come up with real solutions. I know this is so far from what we have come to expect in our leaders, but it seems like it just may work. I'm willing to take a chance with a president who actually may have a clue what is really going on with this country and it's citizens - what a flippin' concept. It certainly helps me sleep better than seeing the "surprised" looks on a few faces in Washington when it was reported that we actually are in a recession. Geeze, it took a year long study by a handful of experts for you to grasp this?

It would be very interesting if each state and all elected offices would unite. Maybe some of the wasteful government spending would be blocked and our greedy lobbyists would become unemployed. This group of leaders must get the U.S. dollar value back up worldwide. A government sets examples for its neighbors and citizens. What financial example has our government been setting?

SARAH PALIN SPOKE THE TRUTH ABOUT OBAMA, SHE IS STILL THE MOST POPULAR GOVERNOR IN OUR NATION AND THAT MAKES YOU NERVOUS. YOUR INSECURITY OF HAVING VOTED FOR A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER WITH NO RESUME IS YOUR PROBLEM. I AM A BLUE DOG DEMOCRAT THAT VOTED FOR MCCAIN/PALIN, ALONG WITH 57 MILLION OTHER AMERICANS THAT DIDN'T DRINK THE KOOL-AID; AND, AS MUCH AS YOU WOULD LIKE FOR US TO PUT ON BLINDERS AND BOW TO YOUR MESSIAH, WE ARE SORRY, WE ARE NOT IMPRESSED.

Funny how there is no outrage over the number of Governors who flew into Philadelphia on private (state owned) aircraft to beg for Federal dollars. If it was wrong for the auto execs, why is it ok for the governors to use taxpayer dollars to fly jets many more times expensive than flying a commercial airline. Let's be consistent here.

Someone should have polled on the presidential preferences of those who don't know where the Caps Lock feature is on their keyboards. It strikes me that Obama will meet with the governors often, to demonstrate his bipartisanship with politicians who, as a group, tend to be less ideological than those in Congress, who basically are the remnants of the failed experiment known as conservative government.

Sarah Palin has already started her 2012 campign, so I don't care if obama creates 5 million jobs in the next 4 yrs. Sarah is going to say that we couldn't created millions more. We all know she don't know about policy, assembling a cabinet, working across party lines. I know the repubs love her but there has to be a better women out there. I just get tried of hearing her bashing Obama.

I was glad to see the Democratic Party in Alaska stand up and say something today. This came from the Alaska Democratic Party: Anchorage ? While Gov. Sarah Palin is out of state again, this time in Georgia campaigning for incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss on the eve of the runoff election, Alaska faces challenges including a lack of leadership from the Governor. Palin will stump for Chambliss, the draft-evading incumbent Republican who waged a notoriously misleading campaign against a decorated war hero, at rallies Monday in Atlanta, Augusta, Savannah and Perry, Georgia. Palin has been back in Alaska at work for only a few days since running for vice president. ?Alaskans need our Governor here earning her salary and working on key problems facing Alaska families,? said Alaska Democratic Party Chair Patti Higgins. Alaska is facing significant challenges, Higgins said, including: Oil prices have dropped dramatically to about $45/bbl from the peak of $144/bbl in July, which threatens the state budget. Alaskans are paying some of the highest prices for gas in the nation, averaging $2.87 per gallon, while the national average is $1.91. The state?s oil production continues to decline, due to falling prices and mature fields. The global credit crunch and falling natural gas prices threaten the Alaska gas line. The State is failing to meet its constitutional obligation to take care of public education as shown by the high drop out rates and the low graduation rates. Many Medicare patients cannot find doctors. There is continued flight from rural villages. Alaska faces the prospect of reduced federal dollars from Washington, D.C. ?Alaska?s challenges are significant, and there is much that needs to be done right now. Our Governor should remember that her primary job is to work on behalf of the citizens of Alaska, not engage in partisan politics in other states,? Higgins said.?Governing is more than creating photo ops. We?d like a commitment that the Governor is working, not just scheduling media appearances.? This is from "the Mudflats" blog. Now that oil and natural gas prices have plummeted, now that "uncle Ted Stevens" won't be bringing home the bacon we will see just how inept Palin is at playing governor.

The gift that keeps on giving. President-Elect Obama listens, is articulate, is brilliant and a consensus-builder. An energetic visionary and a compelling speaker PLUS a loving husband and father. A rebirth of respect for America through the world's lens. This is just the beginning of what I believe will be a historic Presidency. Thank you electorate for giving him your votes!!

In response to Kissingman: I had to respond to this....Any one who can reasonably make a statement like this after listening and looking at Sarah Palin has got to have blinders on. I get nervous every time I think of how she could have almost been the President. People it's time to wake up and start really and seriously thinking about this country and moving forward. My love for my country has nothing to do with party (democrat, republican or independent), we need to come together as one, strive to make it a better place for ourselves and children to come. It should not matter who or what the person is, give them a chance. It really hurts me to think that after Novemeber 4th, we are still bickering about who won and didn't. For the record, had Palin not been on the ticket, I probably would have voted for McCain, but after he chose her, I had to move forward. But the main point is...the election is over, let's move beyond....get behind the President-elect and move our great country forward. Nothing is accomplished by hatred, self-pity and stubborness. Messiah or not, he's all we have at this moment, and until he does not live up to what we expect...GIVE HIM A CHANCE.